Germany and Sweden removed from travel corridor list of exempt countries
From 4am Saturday 7 November, people arriving in the UK from Germany or Sweden will need to self-isolate.
- new national restrictions introduced today (5 November 2020) mean it’s no longer permitted to travel for holidays, with those in breach of the rules facing penalties starting at £200 and rising to a maximum of £6,400
- inbound international travel will continue to be governed by the travel corridor approach; must also follow the UK’s domestic regulations
- Germany and Sweden have been removed from the list of UK travel corridors having been assessed by the Joint Biosecurity Centre as posing a heightened infection risk
Passengers arriving into the UK from Germany and Sweden from 4am on Saturday 7 November 2020 will need to self-isolate for 2 weeks before then following domestic rules, as travel corridors continue to be used to protect the nation from imported cases of coronavirus (COVID-19).
The government’s travel corridor policy remains a critical part of the government’s COVID-19 response as it mitigates the risk of importing infections from abroad; this has not changed following the introduction of new restrictions in England.
Anyone arriving into the UK from all destinations on the government’s travel corridor list will need to abide by all applicable domestic rules. Passengers travelling from a non-exempt country, territory or region would still be required to self-isolate for 2 weeks.
In England, everyone must stay at home, and may leave only for a very limited set of reasons, including for work or education. This means people can no longer travel to take holidays, or travel internationally – unless for work or other legally permitted reasons. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has updated its travel advice to reflect this.
Fixed penalties starting at £200 will be given to those found not following the rules, but these fines will double for subsequent offences, up to a maximum of £6,400.
Germany and Sweden have been removed from the government’s travel corridor list following an increase in confirmed cases of coronavirus. Data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England has indicated a significant change in both the level and pace of confirmed cases of coronavirus in both destinations, leading to ministers removing these from the current list of travel corridors.
There has been a consistent increase in COVID-19 cases per 100,000 of the population in Germany over the past 4 weeks, with a 75% increase in total cases over this time period. In Sweden, new cases per week have increased by 34% over the same time period.
A range of factors are taken into account when deciding to remove a country from the exemption list, including the continued increase of coronavirus within a country, the numbers of new cases, information on a country’s testing capacity, testing regime and test positivity rate and potential trajectory of the disease in the coming weeks.
People currently in Germany and Sweden are encouraged to finish their trip as usual, following the local rules and checking the FCDO travel advice pages for further information.
All travellers, including those from exempt destinations, will still be required to show a complete passenger locator form on arrival into the UK unless they fall into a small group of exemptions. This is critical in being able to track the virus in case of any local outbreaks.
Penalties for those breaching the self-isolation rules when travelling from non-exempt countries are £1,000 for first breach, with increased penalties for subsequent breaches, up to £10,000. These penalties mirror penalties for those breaching self-isolation following a positive COVID-19 test or contact from Test and Trace.